The summer is at an end, the nights are drawing in and it’s getting darker slightly earlier each evening. You can see the leaves turning their amazing hues of yellow, gold and red almost in front of your eyes, and there’s a distinct nip in the air to be felt. Shortly we’ll be putting our clocks back and that will signify the real start of the dark nights ahead until the promise of spring joins us once more.

At this time of year, what better meal to enjoy then a hearty Cottage Pie? Good quality, lean minced beef. Thick and delicious gravy enrobing the meat, topped off with a delightful, buttery soft mashed potato. It’s not a pretty dish for the eyes to behold, but it sure is a tasty one! Am I making you hungry yet?

I used 5% lean Angus Steak mince from Lidl and British grown Albert Bartlett potatoes (which I love for their taste and light, fluffy texture when cooked. Both of which have the Red Tractor mark of quality. To enjoy a meal as tasty as this, you’ll need:

15ml Rapeseed oil

1 large red onion, chopped

500g Lean minced beef

1 Knorr onion gravy pot

200ml Boiling water

50ml Red wine

10ml Worcester sauce

10ml Dried parsley

Salt & Pepper to season

4 Large Adrian Bartlett Potatoes, peeled & cut into 2-3cm pieces

100g Butter, cubed

Heat your oven to 200℃.

Gently heat the oil in a large frying pan and fry the onion until soft, but not browned.

Add the mince and cook until browned.

Mix the stock pot with the boiling water, red wine and Worcester sauce, then add this to the mince along with the parsley.

One of the recipes I’m sharing with you using the deliciously nutty and seasonal Jersey Royal Potatoes in collaboration with Asda is for a vegetable curry. Inspired from a recipe my husband found online, he’s adapted and cooked this one for me (as I’m currently recovering from having knee surgery a couple of days ago, and therefore not able to stand for periods of time). Thanks Will x

The ingredients aren’t set in stone for this one; add or remove ingredients that you do or don’t like. (I personally don’t like mushrooms, but he does, so they went in and I picked them out of my dinner). The Mange Tout came from our garden, the French beans were reduced in price in our local supermarket as they had to be sold on the day, as was the courgette. All other ingredients we had at home as staples in our cupboards/fridge. It looks like a lot of ingredients, I know!

30ml Sunflower oil

2.5ml Black Mustard seeds

2.5ml Cumin seeds

2.5ml Fennel seeds

2.5ml Fenugreek seeds

3 Cardamon pods

1 medium Red onion, chopped

1 large White onion, chopped

3 sticks Celery, diced

2 medium carrots, diced

2.5cm fresh Ginger, grated

5 cloves Garlic, crushed

5ml Salt

Medium sweet potato, cubed

10-12 Jersey Royals, cubed

5ml Chilli powder

5ml Turmeric

5ml Cumin

5ml ground Coriander

1 whole Chilli, finely chopped

handful of French Beans, sliced in half horizontally

8-10 Mange Tout, sliced in half horizontally

1 cup frozen Peas

1 medium Courgette, diced

50g button Mushrooms, halved

Can coconut milk

Fresh coriander, chopped.

Prepare all your vegetables as above. You can keep the following together in bowls as they’ll be added to the curry together in batches:

Red and white onions.

Celery and carrots.

Sweet potato and Jersey Royals.

French beans and mange tout.

Peas and courgettes.

Mushrooms.

(This is how my husband preps his ingredients to cook – I have to leave the kitchen; it’s all too much organisation for me!)

2. In a large saucepan/frying pan with a lid, heat the oil and add your mustard seeds, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, fenugreek seeds and cardamon pods. Cook for 2-3 minutes to allow the flavours to infuse the oil. The seeds may start to pop as they cook, don’t worry, this is normal.

3. Add the celery and the carrots, stir to coat evenly in the spiced oil and cook on a medium heat for 2-3 minutes.

My other recipe using Jersey Royal potatoes is more of a traditional one. For this one, they’re gently boiled and then roasted to perfection, served with Chantenay carrots and deliciously lean New Zealand lamb leg steaks, slowly cooked in a rich Barolo red wine and mint sauce.

1 lemon, zest & juice

1 lamb leg steak per person

10ml Rapeseed oil

2 Red onions, chopped finely

10ml Plain flour

15ml Mint sauce concentrate

250ml Barolo red wine

100ml Vegetable stock

Bay leaf

Salt & pepper to taste

Rapeseed oil sufficient to roast the potatoes

Jersey Royal potatoes

Chantenay carrots

Broccoli

Zest the lemon and squeeze the lemon juice over the lamb steaks. Toss to coat, cover and refrigerate for a couple of hours to start to tenderise the meat.

Heat the oven to 180℃/160℃ fan.

In a large ovenproof pan (with a lid), heat the oil and fry the onions gently until transparent.

Turn up the heat and fry the lamb leg steaks until browned on both sides. Remove the lamb to a plate to keep warm.

Evenly sprinkle the flour over the onions and oil and mix thoroughly to a paste (no floury lumps).

As a member of the BBC Good Food Show Blogger Community, and having worked on a previous Stoves UK recipe re-creation, I was again invited to take part and cook up a storm in my kitchen, with inspiration received from the live demonstrations that the chefs give at the shows. I sat in the audience and watched the very talented Phil Vickery cook eels, but I’m not brave enough to try those slippery little suckers (I used to go fishing with my husband, so know their habitat and slippery/slimy persona). Instead I chose to do two recipes which can both be found on the Stoves Recipe website: (I have not re-published the recipes here; merely the method of preparation, as neither recipe is mine, but I have provided the links to them which you can find on the Stoves website).

Following the recipe (link above) and having sealed my chicken breasts until golden, before placing them in the oven to cook, I then sliced my shallots and crushed my garlic, sweating them off until softened but not coloured. I added my sliced leeks to the pan and continued to sweat the vegetables before adding the cream, reducing the mixture and stirring through the oregano and mascarpone.To my pan of boiling water, I dropped in my gnocchi, removing them when they floated to the top to signify they were cooked. They were then added to a pan of olive oil and butter and cooked until golden.

The chicken breasts are served on a bed of the creamed leeks, surrounded by a tumbling of the gnocchi and gives you a dinner worth of a fully tummy and an empty plate.

I lined my springform tin with baking parchment (it makes it easier to remove it from the tin to serve). I crushed my Oaties biscuits (Tesco’s own Hob Nobs) and melted my butter, then mixed them both together, pressing this into the base of my tin, before placing it in the fridge to cool.

The mascarpone, lemon curd and lemon zest, along with the lemon juice and Limoncello (I added 5tbs, not the 2tbs that are recommended in the recipe), all went into a bowl and were beaten together until thoroughly combined and smooth. This was then poured over the chilled cheesecake base and placed back into the fridge to set overnight.

The lemon slices are candied in syrup for the decoration.

Remove your cheesecake from the tin to a serving plate and serve chilled.

As part of the BBC Good Food Show Blogger Community, I was invited to take part in the Stoves UK cook along, for which I received a Tesco gift voucher to purchase ingredients.